Freelance Writing: How Does It Work? Are You Making Money From It?

One of the things I’m doing to support this is by freelance writing. When I tell people this, I usually get a lot of questions.

So here are my As to your Qs:

How does it work??

First things first, there is a lot of sweat, blood, and tears involved.

Just kidding about the blood part but you will want to cry at some point.

Why?

Because freelance writing is HARD and doesn’t pay a lot at first.

Before you can establish yourself as a freelance writer, you have to write a lot for FREE in the beginning and build a portfolio.

Then it’s your job to convince other people you’re good enough to be paid. You are your own PR and marketing person.

If you don’t do well with rejection, don’t do it.

Lastly, it’s time-consuming. Your eyes will be strained and your wrists will start to hurt from typing.

So why the heck would anyone want to do this??

Because you love the challenge of writing and you love the feeling of being paid to do something you love.

I have yet to meet a single a freelance writer who says they’re doing this to get rich. It’s way too much work for way too little pay, especially in the beginning, to do just for money.

What is a freelance writer?

A freelance writer is simply someone who writes for others in exchange for money.

What are the different types of freelance writing?

Who ACTUALLY wrote these?

There are about a dozen type of freelance writing and probably more that I don’t know about.

You may have heard of some of the more popular ones:

copywriting (writing to sell stuff)

technical writing (writing tutorials)

ghostwriting (writing for others anonymously)

Basically, if there are words involved, there is a freelance writer for it.

Did you know some authors and bloggers regularly hire ghostwriters to write for them? Yup.

How do you find work?

You cold-pitch to websites. You comb through freelance writing job boards. You join freelance writing groups and make friends. You keep your eyes and ears peeled for anyone looking for a writer. You scour the web.

What does a typical writing job look like?

They all look a little different but essentially:

You do this except, uh, digitally.

If a client reaches out to you:
1. They’ll give you a topic.
2. You accept or reject it.
3. You get to work.

If you reach out to a client:
1. You present an article or idea to your client.
2. They’ll accept it or reject it.
3. You get to work.

Of course, there are many details in between such as agreeing on payment, length of article, deadline, etc., but that’s the gist of it.

How much does freelance writing pay?

It varies. It all depends on the type of article you’re writing and your skills.

Lower end jobs will pay about $10-50 per post.
Mid-range jobs will pay about $100-$300 per post.
Higher-end clients will pay $500-$1K or more per post.

And if you’re really good, you can get paid $1K and upwards per post. I’m not making this up.

How can I start if I’m a complete beginner?

First, start writing on the web. If you don’t have a website/blog already, start one. You can start with a free one but the truth is if you don’t have a paid one with your own domain (meaning it doesn’t say wordpress.yourwebsitename.com,) no one is going to take you seriously because it’ll appear as if you’re not taking yourself seriously.

2 thoughts on “Freelance Writing: How Does It Work? Are You Making Money From It?”

Have you ever tried HARO (help a reporter out)? People pay to write articles in your areas of expertise. I signed up but haven’t wrote anything yet (too self-conscious and lazy) but it might be a good for you.